Currently Browsing: Grow
Posted on Feb 8, 2012 in Grow, Print, Work | 0 comments

Slugs, snails and carrot fly tales: Jean Perry of Glebe Gardens, Baltimore

Slugs, snails and carrot fly tales: Jean Perry of Glebe Gardens, Baltimore
With the weather getting a little warmer – and wetter – this cottage dweller’s thoughts turn to the garden. Every morning, as Little Missy and I feed our hens, I try to incorporate a few seasonal jobs: weeding around the blackcurrant bushes, poking at the pots of perennial herbs to see if...
Read More
Posted on Sep 21, 2011 in Grow | 3 comments

Wild Damson Vodka

Wild Damson Vodka
When we bought the cottage we were lucky enough to acquire an old damson tree. The trunk and branches were mossy and gnarled and, come autumn, it turned out that the fruit wasn’t great either. I never quite got Nigel Slater’s ongoing obsession with it! Still, we got some batches of jam and one...
Read More
Posted on Jun 20, 2011 in Grow | 13 comments

Food for free: Elderflower Champagne

Food for free: Elderflower Champagne
We might be living in town at the moment but there are still plenty of elder trees around, all laden down with platters of fragrant, creamy-coloured flowers. Before the season is over, it’s worth taking the time to pick a basket-full of the blooms for some homemade cordials and champagne. Try – if...
Read More
Posted on Dec 21, 2010 in Grow, Print, Work | 2 comments

Irish Examiner: Feasting on family fowl

Irish Examiner: Feasting on family fowl
Caroline Hennessy had some misgivings about her plan to rear and then kill the family turkeys for Christmas and Thanksgiving but, after the Turkey Killer did his job, she gained a fresh appreciation of the festive feast. As published in the Irish Examiner on Saturday 18 December, following on from A turkey...
Read More
Posted on Nov 30, 2010 in Grow | 2 comments

The end of turkey

The end of turkey
Turkey all eaten, apart from the best bit: the leftovers to be had on toast, with plenty of stuffing, Cranberry Relish and some Cooleeney camembert (from the Tipp Producers night) melted on top. That’s all I’m going to say – watch out for my final turkey article in the Irish Examiner on...
Read More
Posted on Nov 26, 2010 in Grow | 7 comments

And then there were none

And then there were none
The deed has been done and it’s much quieter in the garden now. No more turkey gobbling in response to Little Missy’s shouts or the hens’ triumphant I’ve-just-laid-an-egg crowing. They’ve been hanging at Pruntus, my parents’ house, since Wednesday night. Tomorrow...
Read More
Posted on Nov 23, 2010 in Grow | 4 comments

Turkeys: tick, tick, tick…

Turkeys: tick, tick, tick…
Time is running out for our terrible turkey twosome. They’re much larger than when they arrived – a little bit taller than a Little Missy at this stage – and strut about the garden as if it is their own especial fiefdom. They were eight weeks old when I picked them up from poultry...
Read More
Posted on Nov 23, 2010 in Grow, Print, Work | 2 comments

Irish Examiner: A turkey for the table

Irish Examiner: A turkey for the table
As published in the Irish Examiner on 2 October 2010. “They’re rather…ugly,” said Scott, aka the husband, gazing intently at the pair of awkward-looking eight-week old turkeys that he had just wrestled from the boot of my car into their new home. All long legs, ruffled feathers and...
Read More
Posted on Nov 23, 2010 in Grow, Print, Work | 0 comments

Irish Examiner: Turkeys – really, really stupid or just misunderstood?

Irish Examiner: Turkeys – really, really stupid or just misunderstood?
As published as a sidebar to A turkey for the table in the Irish Examiner on 2 October 2010. Barbara Kingsolver may be responsible for propagating the myth that turkeys are so suicidally dumb that they can drown just by gazing skywards as it rains but a quick online search will soon see you right. In 2003,...
Read More
Posted on Nov 18, 2010 in Grow, Storecupboard Specials | 2 comments

Winter Warmers: Sloe Gin

Winter Warmers: Sloe Gin
A winter warmer? It’s just got to be Sloe Gin. The first time I tasted it was in 2002 when the then Boyfriend and I were staying with the IT Specialist near Cambridge and an unlabeled bottle was produced late at night. I savoured every last drop and remembered enough the next day to ask our friend for...
Read More
Posted on Oct 13, 2010 in Grow, Life | 2 comments

Pickin’ spuds: Spiced Lamb and Homegrown Potatoes

Pickin’ spuds: Spiced Lamb and Homegrown Potatoes
This has been a rather mixed year in the garden. Despite all my busy sowing early in the year, there wasn’t a whole load to harvest after the pesky rabbits got stuck into all those tasty green shoots. Still, the arrival of four cats (and the occasional extra stray or two) has put a stop to the dozen or...
Read More
Posted on Oct 5, 2010 in Grow, Radio | 2 comments

Newstalk: More turkey

Newstalk: More turkey
These turkeys have legs! After a call from a Newstalk researcher on Friday, I was on the Tom Dunne show yesterday morning, talking about keeping – and harvesting – turkeys for Christmas. You can listen from here and my interview starts about 21 minutes in. And the picture? That’s one of my...
Read More
Posted on Oct 2, 2010 in Grow | 3 comments

A turkey for the table

A turkey for the table
They may not be recognisable from the shrink-wrapped fowl that you can pick up at the supermarket for your Christmas dinner but these awkward-looking animals are actually turkeys. Bronze turkeys, to be precise, and they came to live down the bottom of my garden a month ago. They are not pets: they are...
Read More
Posted on Oct 1, 2010 in Bake, Grow | 0 comments

Irish Foodies’ Autumn Fruit Cookalong: Courgette Cake

Irish Foodies’ Autumn Fruit Cookalong: Courgette Cake
Ahem! Now, I know that the theme of tonight’s cookalong is actually autumn fruit and I know that a courgette isn’t exactly what you might call a fruit but as it grew in my garden and I’m turning it into a Very Good Cake, I thought I might get away with it. Besides, this is the kind of...
Read More
Posted on Aug 13, 2010 in Food Events, Grow | 2 comments

Blueberry time at Derryvilla Blueberry Farm

Blueberry time at Derryvilla Blueberry Farm
Growing up in Ireland during the 1970s and 1980s, blueberries were a rare, exotic fruit, only read about in the books of Laura Ingalls Wilder or Roald Dahl. Years later, my first encounter with a blueberry was in a muffin but, alas, it was one of those ever-lasting, plastic-wrapped ones and the purple...
Read More

« Older Entries